Sacred Actions In The Protestant Churches After The Reformation

The emphasis on words and the Word of God in Reformation theologies and the adoption of a fundamentally scholastic method by Protestants developed, under the impact of the Enlightenment, into modern Protestant rationalism. But Protestant scholasticism and rationalism provoked experience-based responses: Pietism (seventeenth century), Methodism and revivalism (eighteenth to nineteenth centuries), and a variety of efforts at worship renewal (nineteenth century). Three major historical currents have shaped the Protestant understanding and practice of worship during the modern period: Pietism, Rationalism, and Restorationism. The rationalism of the Enlightenment largely determined the way in which Protestant churches elevated preaching and teaching over the actions of liturgy and sacrament. The spoken word was the preferred means for conveying religious concepts and moral instruction in the context of worship. Pietism and recurring movements of spiritual awakening, revival, and renewal c…